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"Thucydides Trap"

America’s erratic actions and constant policy shifts make a lot more sense when viewed from the lens of what Noah Millman calls the “Thucydides trap”. “(It refers to) a situation where a rising power and an established power facing a possible power transition each make moves that, while individually rational, ultimately lead to a catastrophic war that proves ruinous to both powers’ fortunes.”   With Obama, America tried a “pivot to Asia” approach to counter China, i.e., increase the focus on China and its neighbouring countries, reduce the focus elsewhere (The pivot to Asia is why the US didn’t do much/anything when Russia invaded Crimea in 2016; why Obama signed the nuclear deal with Iran). Obama was being pragmatic – it was clear that the assumption that the only road to economic prosperity went hand in hand with democracy and other Western systems was not true. China was prospering without democracy; and showing signs of not wanting to be part of a system dominated by the...
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Wheat or Rice?

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Wheat or rice? Here’s how the world production looks on that question, writes Tomas Pueyo (Red = rice; Green = wheat): A key point here: rice and wheat are not harvested in the same places. It is an either/or option. The reason for the distribution? “Rice grows in hot, wet, flat, floodable areas, whereas wheat prefers cooler, drier, better drained areas.”   Another consequential point here: “Rice generates twice as many calories per unit of area. This means that rice nourishes families on half the land that wheat requires. Which means population density in rice areas can be twice as high as in wheat areas.” This explains why (see map above) coastal China, a huge part of the Indian subcontinent and South East Asia are so densely populated.   Rice cultivation requires a lot more work than wheat: “Preparing paddies, raising seedlings in nurseries, transplanting every single seedling by hand into flooded fields, managing water, pumping it, weeding, harvesting, and thr...
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Chinese Homework Apps in the US

Just like TikTok took the US (and world) by storm, Chinese education apps like Gauth and Question.AI have taken the American education app sector, writes Lily Ottinger. Both apps say they can solve problems in “all school subjects”.   Is this encouraging cheating, where kids stop doing homework? And what do equivalent Chinese apps offer in China? Well, for one, the apps for China and the rest of the world are different, even when made by the same Chinese company. Give the two apps (Chinese and non-Chinese), say, an integration question to solve and the Chinese one will list the steps to solve it while the American one will tell the answer, then show the steps. The Chinese one will give hints and tricks to solve such questions, the American ones won’t (unless you upgrade to the paid version). The Chinese apps also graph the problem to make it easier to visualize.   What could be the reasons for the differences? Well, Western education places more emphasis on homework, ...
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A Trip to a PSU Bank After Ages

My wife has been saying for a (long, long) while that we should go re-activate or close or pull out our money in PPF and SBI. We haven’t transacted in either for a long time, so it was almost certain they were dormant. We don’t expect the process to be easy or clear, but finally we decided to initiate the process.   We to the nearby SBI branch. We went in, saw a token generator, and went to get one. It wasn’t working. Ok, so you’d expect a queue somewhere, right? Except the only queue was in a counter to open new accounts! Weirdly, lots of people were seated with no apparent hurry or urgency. Waiting (for what? For who?), filling forms, no urgency, no impatience, no irritation… it was almost surreal.   My wife then saw an employee walking by and asked him how to get a token. He gave a wide smile, you know the kind rural folks give urban denizens when they come to a village… Oh, you poor ignorant people. Then he said, “The token system doesn’t work” and helpfully added,...
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Evolution of Language #2: One Explanation

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In the previous blog in the series, we saw all the difficulties in explaining the evolution of language. Now to one possible explanation, from A Brief History of Intelligence by Max Bennett.   The book goes into a seemingly unrelated topic, altruism . In all species, one can see altruism towards kin (children, siblings etc). Many species also show reciprocal altruism (you scratch my back, I scratch yours). Humans go far, far beyond both. People help strangers without any expectation. They give to charity and do philanthropy. At the same time, as a species, we can be outrageously cruel . Only humans do genocide, wipe out entire groups.   Back to the topic of language: “It is not a coincidence that our language, our unparalleled altruism and our unmatched cruelty all emerged together in evolution: all three were, in fact, merely different features of the same evolutionary feedback loop.” He elaborates.   Language may have started off as intended only for ...
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Evolution of Language #1: Wallace's Problem

In A Brief History of Intelligence , Max Bennett asks: “Is language an evolutionary invention or a cultural invention?” He investigates.   In the 1800’s, a scientist named Broca identified a region of the brain (called Broca’s area ) which was necessary to speak. People in whom that area was damaged could not speak anymore.   There was another kind of patient who could speak but the sentences made no sense whatsoever! Analysis identified damage to a part of the brain, and the condition was named Wernicke aphasia after the man who identified it.   Two different areas of the brain for understanding speech and for speaking . And they are wired together. Sounds like we found the reason why humans have speech, but not other species like apes. Unfortunately, that is not the case.   Turns out those 2 areas of the brain evolved in a common ancestor, i.e., even apes have Broca’s area and Wernicke area. So it was not the evolution of these 2 areas in the...
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Hong Kong #4: Big Buddha, Temple Street, Festi Lumi

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Another popular tourist spot in Hong Kong is the Big Buddha. Constructed only recently (1993), the Buddha sits ensconced on a lotus. Surrounding him are six bronze statues offering flowers, incense etc representing various virtues. It is called the “Offering of the Six Devas”. Getting to the statue involves either a bus ride to Lantau Island or a cable car. We took the cable car – it is faster and more scenic. Plus, the one we took had a glass floor, so we could see the water and greenery below on the trip.   I have now seen a few such massive Buddha statues now – at Wuxi (China), two in Ladakh, and now the Big Buddha. All of them have steps leading up to the statue, though there were few steps in Ladakh. This one has 268 steps. The Po Lin monastery is nearby, quiet and serene.   For a popular tourist destination, the entire place is surprisingly quiet and uncrowded. Nice place to go to for the statue, the view, the quiet. ~~   We didn’t have any clear plans f...
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